


Street Rats

by Vandereer



Series: Tiger by the Tail side stories [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst and Feels, Anxiety, Childhood Friends, Crushes, Drinking, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Modern AU, One Shot, Smoking, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 06:46:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19312798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vandereer/pseuds/Vandereer
Summary: Sanji shows up at Sabo’s birthday party after disappearing off the map for years. Ace hasn't seen him since they were teenagers growing up on the street together.They have some catching up to do and old feelings to sort out.





	Street Rats

**Author's Note:**

> This is tied directly to my modern AU Tiger by the Tail, but it’s not necessary to read beforehand (though I do recommend it). It takes place 5 or 6 years before it starts, but it is part of the same canon.  
> Content warning for references to domestic abuse and suicide. If you’ve read Tiger by the Tail, specifically the part where Zoro wonders who hurt Snaj…  
> UHHH, yeah…
> 
> RatAce I wrote the title while thinking of you, also this ship is a thing of beauty and thank you for opening my eyes to it.

 

“Aren’t we a little old for ‘pin the tail on the donkey’?” Sabo says, as Usopp ties his bandana over his eyes.  
“I think you’ll find no-one in this room worries about anything like ‘maturity’ and ‘being too old for stuff’.” Usopp replies.

Luffy spins the blindfolded Sabo around three times and shoves him towards the poster.

“Alright, go!”

“Oh, it’s over here right?”

Sabo darts forward with the tail and pokes Luffy on the ass with the sharp pin.

“OW!”

“Oh, my mistake!”  
“Knock it off! SABO!”

Everyone clears a path as Sabo chases him, a maniacal grin on his face.

Ace chuckles as Luffy trips over the ottoman and falls ass over teakettle, nearly taking the whole drinks table and several guests with him. Sabo lifts up his blindfold and cackles.

Ace is sat on the balcony, watching with amusement as Sabo sticks the donkey tail to the back of Luffy’s pants.

“This is where one of us makes a joke about Luffy being an ass.” Sabo says.  
“It suits him.” Ace says with a chuckle.

“You guys suck.” Luffy grumbles.

There’s a knock at the door that almost gets lost under the chatter and pounding music.

“I’ll get it.” Ace says, hopping over Luffy to get to the door. Their tiny apartment is stuffed with people, some of whom are only vaguely familiar to Ace. He cheerfully shoves aside a couple of moochers he’s sure neither of his brothers know and yanks open the door. A greeting is on his lips when he sees who it is, and his mouth drops open instead.

“Sanji?”

The last time he saw the guy, he was still a gangly teenager wearing sneakers kept together with duct tape and tightly belted jeans a couple sizes too big. Now he’s wearing a tailored pin-striped suit, polished dress shoes and a watch that no doubt costs more than Ace, Sabo and Luffy earn in a year. Sanji almost fumbles the stack of tin-foil covered trays he’s holding, and his pale cheeks flush a light pink.

“Uh, hey Ace...”

Ace’s mouth opens and closes as he tries to find the words, then Luffy barges past him and shoves him into the door frame.

“SANJI!”

“No hugs, carrying food!” Sanji warns, as Luffy approaches him with arms held out wide.

Luffy cackles with delight and grabs the trays from his hands, rushing back into the living room to open them up. Ace follows him as he puts the food amongst the bottles of soda and cheap booze.

“Why didn’t you tell me Sanji was coming?”

“Huh, I didn’t?” Luffy is already shoving fistfuls of shrimp and chips into his mouth.

“No.” Ace says slowly, “You could’ve given me some warning.”

“Guess I forgot.” Luffy says with a shrug.

“Woah! Hey Sanji!” Sabo grabs the man’s hand. Him and Usopp have huge grins on their faces as they greet him. Ace hangs back and idly shoves a chicken tender into his mouth, Sanji always was good at cooking, but the flavours explode in his mouth.

_Goddamn, he’s gotten good._

Usopp rushes over to the TV and flips it towards the cooking channel.

“I still can’t believe this guy is your _dad_!” Usopp yells, drawing a small crowd around their old CRT.

“Come on guys...” Sanji mutters.

“I try to copy his recipes all the time, but he moves so friggin’ fast!”

Zeff the Chef is in the middle of the screen surrounded by gleaming pots and pans, expertly tossing onions in a pan with one hand and flambé-ing something with the other. Ace tried to copy him once and just ended up setting his sleeve on fire. Everyone knows Zeff is pretty much cooking royalty, Sanji had definitely caught a lucky break.

Which gets Ace wondering why the guy still seems so unhappy.

Ace catches him alone when he goes to have a smoke on the balcony. He’s slumped in one of their old garden chairs with his eye fixed on the glowing city lights.

“You’re a little overdressed.” Ace says.

Sanji’s glances up at him and flicks a scrutinising blue eye over the sloppy orange tee and carpenter shorts he’s wearing.

“And here I was wondering if you thought you were too good for us these days.”  
Sanji huffs, Ace can’t help but notice the tremble in his slender fingers as he moves to tap the ash from his cigarette.

“Hey, I’m kidding. I’m glad to see you dude.”

_But you don’t seem very happy to see me._

Ace forces himself to smile brightly as he takes the seat opposite him.

“You having a good time?”  
Sanji exhales into the night air and shrugs. “I like watching people enjoy my food.”

“I can’t thank you enough for that, everything is awesome.” he nods at the tables piled with food, Ace doesn’t know anyone else who could take sandwich triangles and pigs-in-blankets and turn them into works of art.

“It’s really no trouble.” Sanji says, curling himself further into the corner of the balcony and looking like he’d rather be literally anywhere else.

“What is that uhh… that green stuff on top of the chicken tenders?” Ace says, clicking his fingers.

“Chimichurri.”

“Ohh, it’s great! Can you give me the recipe?”

Sanji stubs out his cigarette on the edge of the balcony, the breeze catches the burning embers and carries them away a little before they fade.

“Listen not to be rude but… I feel a little awkward around you considering the last time we saw each other was-”  
“A long time ago, I know.”  
“-I was going to say during the lowest point of my entire life, but sure, that too.”

Sanji gets up and walks to the kitchen, and Ace can’t help but follow him. He’s already drunk despite it being only a little past sundown and he snags his belt loop on the doorknob. He prays Sanji doesn’t notice him stumbling as he tries to regain his balance.

“B-but you’re doing better now, right?” Ace says.

Sanji glances at him and lifts an eyebrow, he definitely noticed.

“Yeah I guess.”

He opens up a bottle of wine and spills some into a glass, throwing the whole thing back in one or two gulps. Sanji sighs and leans on the counter.  
“God, I hate parties.”

“That why you came in here, to hide?”  
Sanji bites his thumb and nods.

Ace thinks for a moment.  
“How about we get out of here for a bit?”

*

 

Sabo, Ace and Luffy’s apartment is in the same part of town they grew up in, a no-man’s land of buildings with bars on the windows, neglected roads and strip malls known to most people as Grey Terminal.

They make a beeline for the liquor store and walk out with a six-pack of extra-strength hooch. Ace plonks himself down on the kerb and pulls Sanji down to sit next to him.

“It’s a little rude isn’t it? Sneaking out of your brother’s birthday party?” Sanji says as he unscrews a bottle.

“Eh, he’ll be so drunk he won’t even notice until it’s time to cut the cake. Cheers.”  
Ace clinks his bottle against Sanji’s. He takes a drink with half of it dribbling down his front and gasps happily as the acidic taste hits the back of his throat. He guffaws at the look of disgust on Sanji’s face.

“This is awful.” Sanji grumbles, before drinking half the bottle in one go.

“That’s the spirit.” Ace says with a grin.

The night is peaceful, apart from the odd drunk or two wandering around and Sanji seems calmer.

“Feels weird, bein’ back here.” Sanji mutters.

“I’m guessin’ not in a good way. We’re all trying to save for a new place. Luffy’s studying for the firefighter written exam so we’re supporting him until then.”

“Oh, that’s great!”

“I know you might not think the same way but… I miss those old days sometimes.” Ace says, a fond half-smile tugging at his lips, “The four of us running around like street rats.”

Sanji scowls and stares off angrily down the street.

“You might remember the good times, all I remember is eating stale hamburger buns for dinner and trying to find a place to sleep where the cops wouldn’t chase me off.”  
Sanji holds his empty bottle between his knees and slouches, like he suddenly lost all his energy.

“Sorry…” Ace says.

He touches Sanji’s shoulder lightly. Even though they spent a good deal of their formative years together, he’s only ever gotten bits and pieces of information about Sanji’s time on the street before he met them, all of it horrific. He’s even more tight-lipped about the family he ran away from.

Sanji flinches away from his touch and Ace curses himself, remembering too late Sanji’s rules about personal space. There being only one rule and that was; ‘stay out of it’.

“Whatever. It’s not your fault.”

They sit in silence as Ace finishes his drink and starts on another.

_Real smooth, jackass._

He sways a little as he drinks the second bottle down a little too fast.

“Remember when we used to go to that old building by the docks and throw rocks at the windows?” Ace says suddenly.  
“Yeah, sure I guess.”  
“Well, when was the last time you threw a rock at something while pretending it’s your bio-dad’s face?”

Sanji snorts out a laugh and curves a brow sardonically at him.  
“Who needs years of expensive therapy when you have rocks, right?”

 

*

Several dogs start barking in the distance as the first rock goes sailing through the window, a crash that splits the night.

Sanji sighs.

“That felt pretty good.”

“So,” Ace says, picking up a chunk of breeze block and hefting it between his hands, “does seeing me, Sabs and Loof really make you think of bad times?”  
Sanji shrugs as he hucks another rock. Glass tinkles as he hits his mark again, Sanji always did have a good arm.

“They weren’t all bad I guess, when you guys would escape from Dadan and we’d all sleep on the beach.”

Ace smiles fondly, then heaves the block through another window. They were stupid kids. Reckless and lucky to never have been picked up and killed by some lunatic, or drawn into a gang like so many other kids in All Blue City.

“I don’t think I ever thanked you guys. Foster care was… a shitshow, we all knew it.” Sanji searches for a more aerodynamic rock, dropping a couple before he finds the perfect one.

“You were the only ones who made me feel like I had a family. If I hadn’t met you…”

Sanij throws the rock and it falls short of its intended target, hitting the wall and clattering to the floor.

“I don’t know what I would have done.”

Ace reaches out for him and pauses before remembering himself.

“Dude, can I give you a hug?”

“Yeah… Okay, I guess.”

Ace slowly wraps his arms around his shoulders and pulls him close to his chest. At first it’s like hugging a lamp post before Sanji slowly eases up. He never thought much of the smoke smell that hangs around him, but there’s a certain nostalgia to the smell. Ace presses his face to Sanji’s shoulder and breathes it in deep. It reminds him of Dadan, and how Sanji picked up the habit by spiriting away a pack of the shitty brand she used to smoke. Something about it smells like home.

Sanji’s hands come up to rest over his arms.

“Ace I…”  
“ _HEY!_ What are you doing?!”

The voice is almost as loud as the shattering glass and just as startling.  
Torchlight shines in their faces. They can see a portly security guard half-hidden by the glare.

“Ah, shit.” Ace says, “Run.”

“HEY!”

They bolt towards the chained fence they climbed over in the first place, while the security guard huffs along behind them. Ace grins at Sanji as they crawl over and hit the floor running.

“Can you still run like you used to, in those fancy shoes?”

“Fuck you!” Sanji pants, before easily overtaking him.

 

They race towards the shitty scrap of beach nearby, sprinting as fast as they can, even though they long left the security guard in their dust. They’re racing each other now, or maybe just running for the hell of it. Sanji is in the lead, the bastard always had the longest legs. At some point Ace accepts that he’s lost and gives up, letting himself fall backwards onto the sand. The light-pollution choked stars spin a little, and the beam of light from the light-house blinks in and out of his vision.

Sanji leans over him with a shit-eating grin.

“What were you saying? Something about me still outrunning you in my three-hundred dollar shoes?”

“Fuck off.”

“Have you gotten fat?” Sanji says thoughtfully, pausing to elegantly light a cigarette. “And I thought Luffy ate a lot.”

Ace reaches up to grab his sleeve and yanks him down onto the sand, where he falls with a much less elegant yell.

“Your suit is ripped, that fence must’ve been barbed.” Ace mumbles.

Sanji tugs at his shoulder where there’s a new hole in the seam that connects the arm and shoulder.

“That was you, literally just this second. You fuckhead.”

Ace gives him a lazy grin and reaches over to steal a drag from his cigarette. He looks the other man up and down as he hands it back. He can’t help but notice how much muscle Sanji has put on, and how well his suit clings to his slim figure.

He looks _good._

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Sorry it’s just… I missed you man, I really wish you’d kept in contact. I was kinda worried _,_ you know?”

“Please don’t, I’m not worth worrying about.”

He stares out at the dark ocean and they watch the waves foaming on the surface. The tide is coming in and threatens to start lapping at their ankles soon.

“Even though everything was so long ago... Sometimes I feel like I’m drowning. Like everything I’ve left behind comes crashing back down on me.”

 

Ace remembers when they first met, seeing the sad kid sat alone on a park bench in the dead of night, startled by Sabo and Luffy’s approaching chatter.

Something had compelled him to step forward.

 _“Hey, you need a place to sleep tonight?”_ Ace had said. _“If you come with us, we can show you.”_

The sad kid had looked up, dead-eyed and gaunt of face, his blonde hair hanging down in a greasy curtain.

 _“This a trick?”_ _  
_ _“Why would we trick you? You don’t look like you’ve got anything we’d want to steal.”_

Ace had folded his arms over his chest and shrugged.

_“Doesn’t make any difference to me if you don’t want to come, but it’s going to rain soon.”_

Sanji had taken one look at the swollen storm clouds and followed their group at a distance. Ace felt his stare as sharp as a needle in his back as he led the way back to Dadan’s place.

Dadan had taken one sniff and forced Sanji into the tub, then given him a fresh set of old clothes and a bowl of soup.

 _“Why? I don’t get it,” Sanji had said, hands trembling around a hunk of bread and tears in his eyes. “Why are you being so nice to me?”_ _  
_ Ace had snorted at him, a dumb kid who was rendered uncomfortable at any display of emotion back then.

_“I don’t know where you came from or what you’ve done, but no-one deserves to be alone.”_

He had walked away while Sanji sobbed into his bread.

 

Sanji stubs out his cigarette, it fizzles in the damp sand.

“It took me hours to get the courage to leave the house, whenever I thought about seeing you again I ended up making another dish.”  
“Why just me?”

“That night in the park… I had never felt more alone in my life. I was thinking about walking into the lake when you came along.”

Sanji can’t seem to look him in the eye and he bites down hard on his lip.

“Ace you... You meant _everything_ to me.”

A deep flush spreads across Ace’s entire face. Somehow he ends up leaning forward and cupping Sanji’s jaw in his hand, stroking his lower lip with his thumb to try and tell him _it’s okay._

Ace grabs him by the lapels and holds him close as if he’s afraid he’ll suddenly disappear out of his life again, barely brushing their lips together. He tries to move closer, wanting to feel Sanji’s chin scruff brush his skin, but only succeeds in falling forward and bumping his nose against Sanji’s cheek.

They pull apart and chuckle.

“Sorry,” Ace mutters, “I’m really drunk.”

“So drunk you won’t remember this tomorrow?” Sanji says heavily.

“No I mean I only-”

Ace takes in the intense look in Sanji’s eye, the rise and fall of his chest. His hair was shiny and perfectly styled before, but is now sticking up in clumps and full of sand. Ace clears his throat as he starts to blush.

“No, I am _so_ drunk, won’t remember I even saw you tomorrow.”

“Good.”

Sanji grabs him roughly and his tongue finds its way into Ace’s mouth. He tastes of cigarettes sure, but there’s also something like fine wine and the hundreds of different flavours he must taste while sampling his own cooking.

Ace grabs at the back of his head, wanting to mess up his hair even further and put creases in his suit. His fingers find the rip in his blazer and he tears the stitching open further, rubbing his fingers in little circles over the dress shirt beneath.

Sanji pulls back with a slight gasp. He glowers at Ace with his fingers still caught in the tear.

“I take back everything I said. You’re such a jackass.”

Ace grins and pounces forward to push him down onto the sand.

 

*

 

“Hey, where have you two been?” Luffy says.

Sanji brushes sand off his coat awkwardly. They’re both a little wet from seawater and when Ace shifts he can feel damp sand in his shoes.

“We went to go throw rocks at shit, and drink hooch.” Ace says.

Luffy blinks, either not noticing or not caring about their sandy clothes and flushed faces.

“Well, whatever, it’s cake time!”

“Yeah yeah, I know how important cake is to you.”

Ace messes up Luffy’s hair and kisses the top of his head.  
Someone dims the lights and the room breaks into a discordant, drunken version of Happy Birthday. Usopp brings out the cake they hastily decorated themselves, a mass of pink and green icing that makes Sanji wince.

Ace nudges Sanji in the ribs and sneaks an arm around his waist.

“Hey, even though I’m gonna forget I saw you tomorrow,” he whispers in Sanji’s ear, “would it be okay if I also drunkenly gave you my phone number? In case you want to… talk about anything?”

Sanji shrugs. “I mean, if you were to sneak a scrap of paper into my pocket… I guess I couldn’t stop you.”

Ace moves off to grab a sticky note and a pen from the table nearby, scribbling his mobile number and shoving it into his breast pocket.

“I hope you know, now that you’re back in my life, I’m not planning on letting you disappear again.”

Sanji smiles, the orange glow of the candles warming his skin.

“I think I might be okay with that.”

***

**Author's Note:**

> “okay brain, you gotta work on the next chapter. Plot. go.”  
> “Ace and sanni…”  
> “No”  
> “ttheir lipsps……..hhdhfbfhhf kis”  
> “NO!!!!”
> 
> I really had to get this out of my system before working fully on tiger by the tail chapter 4 cause this would just NOT leave my head. I kinda headcanon Sanji smoking as a nervous habit because I do the exact fucking same thing (even though it possibly makes my anxiety worse lmao). With Sanji being taken in by the ASL trio I guess that would make them ASSL.  
> I hope you’re not sick of Snooj cause the next chapter of Tiger features him in spades. I guess I find him a pretty relateable and enjoyable character once the more loathsome aspects of his character (fuck you oda) are taken away,  
> I LOVE ACESAN AND SO SHOULD YOU. I hope you ENJOYED.  
> (Thanks again to Logan for beta reading and saving me from some VERY embarrasing typos. Shawty you da best. You da you da best.)


End file.
